When was the last time you watched a game and saw one of the teams execute a perfect breakout or score a tic-tac-toe powerplay goal? There is a reason that when you see it happen on TV, the announcers get so excited about it…because those “perfect” plays happen so infrequently.
A coach of mine used to always say, “The ice is slippery. Take advantage of it.”

Mistakes are going to happen and it is those teams and players who recover quickly that are going to excel. You can be focused and confident before you head out of the dressing room - but how do you react when those mistakes happen on the ice? You have to regroup quickly and refocus on the task at hand. It is the ability to regain your composure quickly that separates the “great” teams and players from the “good” ones.

Let It Go

The most critical thing to do after you have made a mistake during a game is letting it go and to forget about it as quickly as possible. This is often “easier said than done” - especially when you score on your own net or miss a sure goal on an open net. No matter how big you think the mistake was, there is absolutely nothing that you can do to change it. It is now in the past and you can't go back in time and make it go away.

But you do have control over how you react after a mistake.

When you react negatively to a mistake, whether outwardly (like slamming your stick against the boards) or inwardly (by telling yourself that you can't do anything right), you let that mistake take control of you. And you need to stay focused on what you can control. You can't control what happened in the past. You have the choice to either let the mistake get to you or to move on. Since there is absolutely no benefit to dwelling on the mistake, the choice is clear: you have let it go.

One tool that has always worked well for many players is to think about “flushing” their mistakes down the toilet. I know, it sounds a little strange -
but trust me, it works. When you get back to the bench after a tough shift, just take your mistake and “flush it”. Once you “flush it”, it is gone forever - or at least until after the game when you want to take the time to re?ect on both the positive and negative aspects of your performance.

The most important thing is that you move on immediately. Because in hockey, a few seconds can change everything. And your ability to control your mental game can completely transform your physical game.

Until next time,
~Coach Kim

Originally published on Total Female Hockey Club.

Last October, Canadian Women’s National team goalie, Kim St. Pierre, got that opportunity when she joined the Montreal Canadiens on the ice for practice. And she took it all in stride.

Kim described her experience at practice as being, “Priceless”. A pretty clever play on words, since she not only got to realize her dream of testing her skills against NHL players, but she was also filling in for the Canadiens No. 1 goalie, Carey Price, who missed practice with the flu.

Can you imagine what getting that phone call would be like? First you would think it was a prank call from one of your friends, and if you didn’t hang up the phone immediately, your brain would all of sudden start going a million miles an hour thinking about how fun/hard/scary/amazing that couple hours on the ice would be.

You would hang up the phone, pick it up again and call every single person you know and try to explain to them that an NHL team just drafted you for practice. After spending the next hour trying to convince them that you weren’t lying, you would grab your gear and rush out the door.

At some point on the way to the rink, reality would set in. You would realize that you were going to be spending the next couple of hours having Alexei Kovalev and other NHL superstars fire shots at you and your head. If you are a skater, think about playing the same game, but doubling or tripling the speed and size of the players you were on the ice with. Yikes.

You would be excited, scared, nervous, terrified, and in awe all at the same time. But I can guarantee that you would rise to the challenge.

When awesome opportunities like this arise, you’ve got no time to think - you just react. At some point during the long hockey season, every girls hockey player gets mentally lazy. As you settle into your routine for the season, you might find yourself starting to go through the motions mentally. Your excitement for playing dies just a little bit, until the next big game or tournament comes along, and you get to rise to the challenge again.

When asked about how she felt at this once-in-a-lifetime practice, St. Pierre said, “I wasn’t scared, because I was so into it. I don’t get to practice with the Montreal Canadiens every day.”

You don’t get the chance to practice with NHLers every day, but you need to do everything you can to get as excited as possible for every practice and game you play. Sure, you may be in your dingy local rink at 10pm on a Tuesday night, instead of under the bright lights of the Bell Centre, but both of those practices will give you an amazing opportunity to learn.

Every time you hit the ice, you have to find a way to rise to the challenge on both a physical and mental level. How do you get yourself ready for the biggest game of the season and for the late-night run-of-the-mill team practice? Is your preparation different? Do you think it should be?

~ Coach Kim

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Originally published September 22, 2008 on Total Female Hockey

Do you ever feel like all of the time, effort and hard work you’re putting into taking your game to the next level is just not worth it?

If you’re like most people, I’m sure you answered “Yes” and can admit to often feeling that it’s just too hard and that you’ll never achieve your goals.

The next time that thought enters your mind, I want you to watch this video.

‘Superdad’ Dick Hoyt and his son Rick have completed 85 full length marathons and 8 Ironman triathlons. That's just amazing - pure and simple.

Dick Hoyt, age 65, has spent the last 25 years pushing his son in a wheelchair though marathon after marathon with their best time of a stunning 2 hours 40 minutes. He’s towed Rick for the 2.4 mile swim phase in a rubber dinghy and cycled the 1123 mile bike phase with his son in a specially adapted bicycle chair. How have they been able to achieve so much when so many of us fall by the wayside?

--> They stick with it.

Not exactly rocket science is it? Most of us fail to achieve our goals simply because we do not stick to it until it’s done.

We give up early. We stop paying the price.

But if you just stick with it...Amazing things can happen.
And if you ever find yourself doubting that they can, watch this video again.

Until next time,
~ Coach Kim

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Originally published September 22, 2008 on Total Female Hockey

This past weekend I was at a business conference where I was surrounded by people who are “light years” ahead of me in terms of their success.

It reminded me of my first game at college. I was so nervous to begin with that I could barely tie-up my skates. Then I go out for my first shift and I see Cammi Granato, who had just come back from leading the US team to the gold medal in Nagano Olympics, lined up across from me. There I was - a virtual nobody - standing across from one of the most successful female hockey players of all time.

When you are surrounded by greatness, either on or off the ice, you have to make a choice:

--> You can be intimidated OR you can be inspired.

There are always going to be games when you have to play against players and teams that are bigger, stronger, faster and better than you are.

But their success didn’t happen overnight.

They didn’t just start out at the top.

It took them a ton of hard work to get there.

Their success gives us something to shoot for and helps us to believe that we can achieve greatness too.

So when you are surrounded by greatness, instead of being paralyzed with intimidation, be inspired to take action. Start taking your hockey performance to the next level day in and day out and soon you will be the one that other players are intimidated by.

Make the choice to be great.

~Coach Kim

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Originally published on Total Female Hockey

Thousands of hockey players say that they want to get a scholarship and play in the Olympics. But there is only so much room at the top of the hockey world. So how are you going to separate yourself from the rest of the pack and be a true hockey success story?

The first step to becoming a hockey success story is to set your hockey goals. Start by writing your personal mission statement for this season. Figure out exactly what it is that you want to achieve over the next few days, weeks and months. The key is to be as detailed and specific as possible - just saying, “I want to play my best”, isn’t going to cut it. You’ve got to know EXACTLY what you want if you are going to take your game to a whole new level.

But the “goal setting” is the easy part.
It’s the “goal getting” that’s the real challenge.

Anyone can write out a great mission statement. But not every hockey player can make their dreams a reality.

The truth is that “goal setting” is all talk, while “goal getting” is all about TAKING ACTION. You have to take action each and every day if you want to be the best. So are you just talking about being the best or are you actually making it happen?

Are you warming-up before every ice session? Are you taking the time to work on your mental game? Are you eating the right kinds of food to fuel your best performance? Are you putting in the time to work on your game away from the rink?

Some hockey players want it to happen and some wish it would happen. It’s the great ones that MAKE it happen by doing all of these “little” things on a consistent basis.

The more action you take towards your goals, the better player you will be. There’s no time like the present - so what are you waiting for?

What did you do today to take a step in the direction of your dreams?

Coach Kim

Originally published October 26th, 2008 on Total Female Hockey.